Improvement in machinery for making rope



rtree.

rVILLIAM ROBINSON, JR., OF WARSAVV, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINERY FR MAKING ROPE.`

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 10,866, dated May 2,i854.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM ROBINSON, Jr., of VarSaW, in the county ofVyoming and State of New York, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Machinery for Making Rope; and I do hereby declare thatthe following is a full, clear, and eXactdescri ption of theconstruction and operation of the same, reference being had to theannexed drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure lis aside elevation of the machine. Fig. 2 is a top view of the same.Fig. 3 is a vertical section on line a x, Figs. l and 2, looking towardthe iiiers. Fig. 4 isalougitudinal section of laying-piece. Fig. 5 is aside and face View of meeting-piece.

Similar charactersof reference denote the same parts. l

My invention consists inthe employment, inthe manner hereinafter tobedescribed, of a ring with cogs on both inner and outer edges, said ringbeing revolved by pinions meshing into the exterior cogs for the purposeof regulating the relativetwist of the separate strands and the entirerope by'diminishing to a greater or less extent, as will be described,the number of revolutions of the fliers upon their axes while performinga single revolution about the main axis; also, in an arrangement ofclamps, hereinafter to be described, forreceiv-A ing the finished rope,firmly holding it during the laying operation, and finali y conveying itfrom the machine.

In the drawings, a is the main shaft, to which the power is applied,securely fastened to which are the tri-branched bearings b, each pairsupporting one of the iiiers A, these fliers being long boxes containingthe spools B and rollers O, the number of the former being regulated bythe size of rope required On the inner extremities ofthe iiiersA are thepinions c, which mesh into the inner circle of cogs on the ring d, theouter cogs of said ring meshing into the pinions e and being held beltween the Wheelsf' and g. The shaft a has on its outer extremity thecog-wheels 7L and h',

' meshing into the wheels t and t" on the shafts D. Inside of the ring(Z is the beveled cogwheel Z, in which mesh the beveled pinions Z',which carry the grooved rollers rm, ontheir largest faces. Pressingagainst said rollers m are the rollers n, held by the arms o of the ringp, the spring q, which acts on the ring p, serving to keep the rollers mand n closelyT in contact.' At its inner support E the shaft a isenlarged, so as to contain channels for the passage of the twisted yarnto the layingpiece o', which fits into the socket s, as shown in Fig. 4,the bore being regulated by the size of rope. The socket s screws uponthe headt of the shaft a, upon which, between the outlets for thetwisted yarn, is a point to, around which the lay of the rope is made.

Upon the inner end of the shaft ct is the cog-wheel o, meshing into thewheel w on the shaft a', the screw 1j ot' which revolves the wheels,Vturning the shaft a', and with it the system of clamps or pinchers.These clamps or pinchers b have in their extremities the wheels c',which by running over the cams d close the jaws of the clamps orpinchers,which at all times have atendency to open by reason of thesprings c. The shaft can beshif'ted from the bearings f to the bearingsg', so as to cause the screw y to mesh into the cogs of the wheel z andchange theyelocity of the clamps or pinchers ZJ.

The operation of my improved machine is as follows: rlhe requisitenumber of spools B lilled with yarn are inserted in each iiier A, `thenumber depending upon the size of rope to be made. The yarn from everyspool in each iiier is passed around the rollers C of the iiiers-andcarried through the openings s of the pinions O and betwen the groovesof the rollers m and n to the channels t in the enlarged portion of theshaft a, whence the strands issue by the outlets o and passing throughthe laying-piece r are carried toget-her over the pulley c to the jawsof one of the clamps or pinchers b. The yarn being thus arranged, theshaft a is rotated by power suitably applied, carrying with it thefliers A,

which as they revolve have each an independent rotation about their ownaxes in the opposite direction from their 4revolution about their mainaxis. This independent rotation is caused by the meshing of thecog-wheels c in the inner cogs of the ring d and gives the twist to thestrands, while the revolution of the iiers about the shaft a causes thelaying of the rope. The rotation of the shaft d revolves the shaft inthe opposite direction through the wheels fo and w and by the movementof its screw y in the cogs of the wheel .e rotates the shaft a in thedirection of the arrow, causing a movement of the clamps b in the samedirection, with the effect of drawing out the yarn secured by them inthe direction indicated by the red line in Fig. 1.

During themovement ofthe fliers and other parts of the machine, as abovedescribed, one of the wheels h or 71, revolves the shafts D through thewheelsz' or t', causing, by reason of the pinions e, the revolution ot'the ring d inthe direction of arrow 2 with a velocitydepending upon thefollowing causes. The wheels h and h are so attached to the shaft a thatbut one at a time is revolved by it, the other at that time turningloosely upon it. Consequently if the wheel h be secured to the shaft dthe wheels 't' will govern the revolution of the shafts D and thevelocity of the ring (l, while on the other hand if the wheel 7L drivesthe shafts D the velocity of the ring d will be greatly increased. Anyof the usual devices for gearing and ungearing may be employed forfastening the wheels z and h.

The effect of the above-described motion of the ring d upon theformation of the rope will be readily understood from an examination ofthe functions performed by the several parts. The revolution of thefiiers A about the shaft a performs the laying of the rope, while therotation of the same about their axes and in the opposite directiongives the requisite twist to the several strands, the amount of whichtwist will depend on the number of rotations on their own axes to asingle revolution about the main axis d, which number of revolutions ofthe fliers will of course depend on the distance passed overon the inneredge of the ring d by the pinions c of the iliers A. Therefore thegreater the velocity with which the ring d revolves the smaller will bethe number of cogs which the pinions c can mesh into during a singlerevolution of the fliers about the shaft a, and the fewer will be therevolutions of the fliers A about their own axes in the same space oftime. regulate the twist given to the strands composing the rope it willmerely be necessary to give the ring cl the proper velocity byy asuitable arrangement of the driving-gearing, for instead of employingWheels of but' twosizes, as shown in the drawings, there may be a,series of wheels of various sizes, any desired set of which maybe thrownintogear to` properly graduate the volocity of the ring to the nature ofthe rope to be made.

The several strands en ter the enlarged shaft Consequently it will beseen that toY d, as shown in Fig. 1, and pass through the channels t',(seen in Fig. 5,) and issue by the apertures b around the point f@whichenters the cavity in the laying-piece, as shown by Figs. 4 and 5. Thislaying-piece r has abore adapted to the size of rope required, throughwhich the rope passes to the clamp b', as shown inFig. l, the lay beingmade around the projection u by the revolution of the fliers, as abovedescribed, the clamps b keeping the finished portion perfectly tightduring the operation, and finally carrying the rope clear of themachine. l3nt four clamps b are shown in the drawings, though inpractice there may be more employed, the objectv being. to seize andhold the rope as it passes over the pulley c" before the preceding clamphas released its hold. The cams CZ close the jaws of the clamps as theclamps advance to the rope, and the springs c open the1n,'when the forniof the cam d causes a relaxation of pressure. The velocity of thisportion of the machine must be adjusted to the movements of the otherportions, for which purpose a number of wheelsz z', dto., are provided,with bearingsf, g', dto., into which the shaft maybe shifted, so thatthe required velocity may always be produced.

The principal advantages of this machine consist in the facility whichit affords for regulating the twist of the strands, a feature of theutmost importance in machines of this character, as the too greattwisting of the strands prevents the effectual lay of the rope, and thelack of twistis equally detrimental to its quality, defects wellunderstood by ropemaliers, and the importance of the proper regulationof which will require no argument to render apparent.

Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

l. The employment of the cogged ring d, arranged and operating asdescribed,for. giving the fliers their independent rotation for twistingthe strands and. by its own revolution regulating the amplitude of `thattwist, as andl for the purposes set forth.

2. The employment of the rotary clamps b',

in combination with the 'cams d and springs e', for grasping, conveying,and releasing. the rope, as herein fully set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name before twosubscribing witnesses.

WM. ROBINSON, JR. Witnesses;

GEO. PATTEN, SAML. GRUBB.

